Internships Give Norton School Grads a Leg Up on Jobs

Program rigor and corporate partnerships help UA students land experiences that pave the way for college-to-career transition.

It's one of the oldest Catch-22s around. Getting a good job often requires some relevant experience. But getting experience usually entails getting a job. Internships, however, can often break that stalemate.

In fact, more than 80 percent of undergraduates in the retailing and consumer sciences program at the University of Arizona's Norton School of Family and Consumer Sciences graduate with internships under their belts. It's a significant factor in giving them an edge in the job market. An internship nearly doubles a graduate's chance of landing a job quickly, according to a study by the National Association of Colleges and Employers, or NACE.

Internships had been rising nationally, but according to the NACE 2009 Experiential Education Survey, those numbers took a 20 percent dive in 2009 as employers tightened belts – an under-the-radar side effect of the economic crisis.